


Examining written courtship: a study of its efficacy in modern applications

by jadetea



Series: An Anecdotal Guide to Written Seduction [3]
Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Love Letters, Misunderstandings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-27
Updated: 2017-08-27
Packaged: 2018-12-20 10:51:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11919369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jadetea/pseuds/jadetea
Summary: “Are you suggesting that “love letters” are ineffective or potentially counter-productive?” Penny asked, “This is both disheartening and in conflict with my research.Ruby waved her hands quickly,”I didn’t mean that all love letters don’t work. I’ve only seen what I just told you about, but I want to believe that they work too!”Penny placed her hands on her hips and looked at Ruby with determination, “I understand Friend Ruby! Do not worry, I will continue investigating these “love letters” and return to you with more research!”Penny opened and leaped out the window before Ruby could reply.“...I hope nothing bad happens”





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Poetry? Easy. Business Letter? Not crazy. Scholarly article?...I hate myself for thinking of the idea.
> 
> My experience in academic writing is mostly within the biological sciences. At first, I envisioned a quantitative analysis where Weiss basically tells Ruby she’s empirically hot bc SCIENCE. I might actually do that eventually, but the idea of an outside observer reporting their take on all their interactions sounded more fun!
> 
> **This is not canon for the rest of this series, just a one-off**  
> \---  
> 4 hours later: Many regrets

“Ruby!”

Ruby wasn’t exactly sure how Penny always got into her dorm room, but since the android never messed with anything most of team RWBY was fine with it. However, her presence in Ruby’s dorm before the end of classes suggested Penny had more “life” questions for Ruby...which never really turned out well.

“Hey, Penny. What’s up?” Ruby said.

“Up may be the adjective describing a direction towards a higher position, a preposition used to indicate higher position, or a movie created in 2009 following the adventure of an elderly man and a young boy travelling in a balloon-lifted house,” Penny replied, “It is also used informally to descri—oh, were you inquiring my current status?”

“Yeah,” Ruby said, “You usually come visit when you have a question—not that you’re not welcome! I just want to help you out with whatever you need.”

“Sensational! I do indeed have a topic of further inquiry!” Penny clapped her hands together,” I have recently discovered the concept of a ‘love letter’. Do you have any experience with these?”

Ruby, who had been putting her bag away and tidying her desk, nearly tripped,” Wha-Oh, phew...Uh,why do you want to know about this Penny?”

“My apologies for startling you, Ruby,” Penn said, “My research indicates that the composition and reception of “love letters” is a common practice, yet it is one I have not experienced.”

Ruby waved her off, “Oh. Well in that case, I’m sorry, but I’ve never written or gotten one. I wouldn’t really worry about it since people don’t really use them much nowadays.”

“My research indicates that the exchange of written courtship is still a popular practice,” Penny frowned, “Have you not experienced it indirectly?”

“Well, yeah. Yang used to get  _ tons  _ of them back at Signal, but they never really meant anything y’know?” Ruby shrugged, “Weiss said she used to get some from random rich guys too and she hated those.”

“Are you suggesting that “love letters” are ineffective or potentially counter-productive?” Penny asked, “This is both disheartening and in conflict with my research.”

Ruby waved her hands quickly,”I didn’t mean that  _ all  _ love letters don’t work. I’ve only seen what I just told you about, but I want to believe that they work too!”

Penny placed her hands on her hips and looked at Ruby with determination, “I understand Ruby! Do not worry, I will continue investigating these “love letters” and return to you with more research!”

Penny opened and leaped out the window before Ruby could reply.

“...I hope nothing bad happens”

***

**Introduction:**

Written courtship—colloquially referred to as “love letters”—dates back to the establishment of written records. The oldest example of written courtship currently known was retrieved from the Vacuan pyramids, and was written over thirty five centuries ago. The practice of written courtship has since been present in every known society—with variation in popularity and execution.

While numerous historical examples of such work exists, it is largely unknown whether the practice of written courtship remains an effective method for gaining the favor of potential partners. Aside from the difficulty of defining effectiveness of such work, many potential analysis samples are disqualified due to the absence of records of the receiving partner’s response. However, the continued practice of written courtship suggests its viability as a technique for gaining the favor of a potential partner. An analysis of the current state of this practice could support this assertion.

Therefore, this study seeks to measure the efficacy of written courtship in a modern setting through analysis of written samples and related responses, determined by survey and behavioral observation. It was hypothesized that written courtship affects the demeanor of its recipient; the following prediction was made as a result: given a potential partner who is either “neutral” or “receptive” to the suitor, written courtship will increase the chance that the recipient will accept or initiate a romantic partnership. In the case of a potential recipient who is “non-receptive” or “hostile” to the suitor, written courtship will either have no impact, or lower the chance of the recipient entering a romantic partnership with the suitor.

*******

Penny had an academic understand of love letters, she just didn’t understand the human response to them. Ruby’s experiences gave vague predictions, but she didn’t have anything to confirm them.

Her father liked to say, “When there’s no data left to find, it’s time for a new experiment!” She previously had difficulty connecting with this saying, but now she understood. She had to observe a love letter in action!

***

**Methods:**

A singular subject defined her relation type with—“receptive”,”neutral’,”non-receptive”, or “hostile”—and favorability for—the probability she believes she will enter a partnership with the individual— two suitors.. A follow-up period of five days of behavioral observation was performed afterwards for comparison. The subject was observed interacting with both suitors, with each interaction marked as “positive” or “negative”, defined by whether the interaction assisted or provided benefit to the suitor (positive), or if the interaction harmed the suitor (negative).

Following the survey and observation period, the recipient was given two identical samples of written courtship—one addressed from each suitor. The subject was observed for an additional five days before being given a final survey.

***

The difficult part of studying a social phenomenon was that there were few measurable quantities. This was a problem for her in general—she couldn’t measure “happiness”, but she could count how many friends she had; she couldn’t measure “fear”, but she could measure the speed at which a person ran from her.

“Weiss!” Penny shouted. She had memorized her subject’s schedule and determined an optimal time to approach her.

Weiss looked up from her scroll with a raised eyebrow, “May I help you, Penny?”

“Indeed! I would like for you to answer some short questions for me!”

Weiss sighed. Penny usually only interacted her when Ruby was around, and the dolt was surprisingly good at managing her inquiries. “Go ahead, but keep it short.”

“Exceptional! Please fill out this short form!” Penny handed Weiss a clipboard and pen, “Please record your initial response, without filtering.”

Weiss looked down at the sheet.

  1. I would categorize myself as ___ towards the idea of a romantic partnership with Jaune Arc.
  2. Receptive
  3. Neutral
  4. Non-receptive
  5. Hostile



 

  1. Please write down the chance that you would accept or initiate a romantic relationship with Jaune Arc as a percentage _____%



She looked up, annoyed, “Did Jaune put you up to this?”

“Negative, Weiss! This is a questionnaire that is  _ vital  _ to a current research project I have undertaken.” Penny replied, “I assure you that your responses will be kept secure and confidential!”

Weiss stared at Penny. If Weiss didn’t fill this out, Penny would probably end up just pestering Ruby about it, and Ruby would bother  _ her  _ about not doing it. She sighed and continued.

  1. I would categorize myself as ___ towards the idea of a romantic partnership with Ruby Rose.
  2. Receptive
  3. Neutral
  4. Non-receptive
  5. Hostile



 

  1. Please write down the chance that you would accept or initiate a romantic relationship with Ruby Rose as a percentage _____%



Weiss flushed. When she checked, Penny was simply looking at her with her usual smile. She hastily wrote her last two answers and leaned in closer to Penny, “If  _ anyone  _ seeds this paper, I will  _ personally  _ ensure that you are never welcome at Beacon again.”

“Remarkable! Thank you Weiss, I have yet to experience a ‘verbal threat’.” Penny replied, still smiling docilely. Weiss growled and stormed off.

***

**Results:**

**Table 1.** Survey response from W.S. before experiment. Survey describes her relation type and willingness to enter a romantic partnership with suitor J.A. or R.R.

**Suitor**

| 

**Relation Type**

| 

**Willingness**

**(% probability)**  
  
---|---|---  
  
**J.A.**

| 

Hostile

| 

0  
  
**R.R**

| 

Neutral

| 

20  
  
***

After her encounter with Penny, Weiss felt  _ off  _ . Perhaps she was being paranoid, but it felt like she was being...  _ followed  _ ? She wasn’t really sure though, since the feeling would come and go throughout the day, though she noticed it was worst during meals.

“Hello, Snow Angel. Would you like to—”

“No.” Weiss continued walking to sit on the other side of Ruby. She still had that eerie feeling, but maybe it was just the residual disgust she felt for Jaune.

Next to Weiss, Ruby was enjoying her dinner wholeheartedly, and upon further inspection Weiss noticed she had put more vegetables on her plate. Weiss waited until Ruby cleared her plate before getting her attention, “I’m glad you took my advice to improve your diet. I’m surprised you didn’t get any cookies though.”

Ruby frowned, “Yeah, the cafeteria was out when I got there.”

“Well, luckily for you, they happened to set out a fresh batch when I came in,” Weiss replied, enjoying the way Ruby’s eyes lit up as she waved the cookie between them, “And I suppose your good behavior deserves a reward.”

“Thamphs Weiff!” Ruby muffled. Weiss had planned on dropping the cookie onto Ruby’s tray, but was interrupted by Ruby eating it out of her hand.

Weiss blushed furiously, though Ruby didn’t seem to notice. However, Weiss felt that strange feeling again, but didn’t notice anything out of place when she scanned the room.

*******

**Table 2.** Behavioral observation results from the period between initial survey and exposure to written courtship samples.

**Suitor**

| 

**Positive (%)**

| 

**Negative(%)**  
  
---|---|---  
  
**J.A.**

| 

13

| 

87  
  
**R.R**

| 

66

| 

34  
  
*******

A few days later, the strange feeling following Weiss stopped. However, it was soon replaced by annoyance when she reached her classroom desk. An envelope with hearts drawn all over it was placed there, and when she flipped it over her annoyance grew in frustration.

From: Jaune

To: Weiss

She tore the envelope to pieces. Couldn’t he  _ take a hint  _ ? She was rather dismissive of him at first, but at this point she practically  _ loathed  _ him—and really, he could only blame himself for that. From how Ruby described him, he seemed...an adequate friend, however, his attempts to “woo” her were even sleazier than the entitled pricks she dealt with in Atlas. At least _ they  _ stopped bothering her after being rebuffed—they might have cursed her behind her back, but at least she didn’t have to interact with them any more.

Weiss spent the rest of the class furiously taking notes. The rest of her team—who had arrived after she disposed of the paper—didn’t stop her when she walked towards the dorms instead of the meal hall. Ruby looked concerned, but just mumbled that she’d bring some food up for Weiss later.

Weiss’ temper cooled by the time she arrived in her room. At least that note explained things, maybe Jaune had installed some creepy cameras. Ugh! Now she had to check the room to pacify her paranoia.

Weiss began scanning the room for potential hiding spots when she saw another heart covered letter on her desk. She was  _ livid  _ ! How  _ dare  _ he invade her personal space, such  _ disrespe  _ —

Weiss’ inner tirade cut off when she noticed the writing. Unlike the other note, this envelope had been left with the address facing up.

To: Weiss

From: Ruby

Weiss’s face—now red from embarrassment instead of anger—turned to look at the door and the window. Both were clear, but she ensured her privacy by closing the shades and locking the door with a glyph. She sat on her bed—breathing slightly fast as her heart raced—and opened the envelope.

Dear Weiss,

Roses are red,

Violets are blue.

I like you a lot,

Let’s be girlfriends too!

Ruby Rose

P.S. I am actually very embarrassed so even though I like you, please do not respond for five (5) days while I compose myself.

Weiss read the note over three times before flipping over and squealing excitedly into her pillow. She was a little confused by Ruby’s postscript, but that was fine—it gave her time to plan their first date! She read the note one last time before tucking it under her pillow and starting her homework

***

“You did WHAT!?”

“Did I upset you, Ruby?” Penny responded.

Ruby rubbed her brow in frustration, “Penny, people aren’t...You can’t just manipulate somone’s feelings like that! You can’t just make Weiss think I gave her a  _ love letter  _ and then tell her it was a fake after the fact!”

Penny processed Ruby’s words and looked ashamed, “I apologize, Ruby. I believe I may have gotten...excited about my research. However, I do have a suggestion to deal with this quandary.”

Ruby crossed her arms and gestured for Penny to continue.

“What if the letter was...not fake?”Penny said. Ruby started to protest, but Penny continued through it, “During my research, I learned the physiological indicators of attraction and arousal. During my observation of Weiss, I noticed these indicators in you as well.”

Ruby flushed, speechless.

“Perhaps, if you could indulge me these next few days,: Penny said, “You can initiate a romantic partnership with Weiss? You find this prospect desirable, correct?”

Ruby nodded meekly and pulled her hood over her face before groaning. “Penny, I know you meant well, but if this goes badly I’m going to be  _ really  _ upset with you.”

Penny looked alarmed at that statement, “I am still very sorry, Ruby. I promise I will make amends for my mistake, regardless of the results.”

“I...okay, Penny. Just...please ask next time?”

Penny nodded, before an alarm went off. “Oh! My apologies, Ruby, but I must return to the base. I will see you in a few days!”

***

The next few days were a surreal experience for Ruby. Although she knew Weiss was really nice underneath all the yelling, it was still  _ weird  _ to see her so happy.

That sounded a lot meaner than she meant, but it was still  _ weird  _ !

Weiss had been started praising Ruby more often—even for small things like doing her homework or going to breakfast. She was also asking Ruby a lot of questions about the places she liked to visit in Vale, and the kinds of food she enjoyed. The strangest part was how Weiss would “casually” make sure she was next to Ruby any time they were seated. They usually sat together, but it wasn’t uncommon for Ruby to sit with other people.

The first time she did it was relatively subtle—Ruby was writing a paper and asked Weiss a question. Instead of just answering her, Weiss pulled her chair to sit on Ruby’s right and insisted on helping her complete the essay. While strange, Ruby reasoned it was probably because Weiss worried about her grades more than she did.

The next time, Jaune was about to take the seat next to Ruby, but tripped and fell before he got there. While he was still getting to his feet, Weiss swooped in and claimed the desk. She stared Jaune down when he opened his mouth, and gave an innocent smile in Ruby’s direction when he left without protest.

This time, however, was ridiculous. Weiss had stayed behind to speak with Professor Port about...well, something—so Ruby had sat with team JNPR and the rest of team RWBY before Weiss arrived. She was in the middle of telling Jaune a story when a glyph appeared underneath him and pulled him out of the bench.Pyrrha started to protest, but Weiss used another glyph to push Jaune’s tray next to hers, so she stopped and nodded.

Ruby just stared in shock as Weiss daintily sat next to her.

***

**Table 3.** Behavioral observation results from after exposure to written courtship samples.

**Suitor**

| 

**Positive (%)**

| 

**Negative(%)**  
  
---|---|---  
  
**J.A.**

| 

5

| 

95  
  
**R.R**

| 

83

| 

17  
  
***

Weiss was buzzing with anticipation. It had been five days since she’d received Ruby’s letter, and she had spent all five of those making plans for their first date. Tonight was a school night however, so she made arrangements for the upcoming weekend.

That didn’t mean she couldn’t approach Ruby about it now.

Ruby had been rather cute the past few days. Weiss wasn’t really sure what Ruby meant by he postscript, but her partner had been unusually jittery since the letter. Weiss eventually figured that Ruby was afraid of rejection, so Weiss went out of her way to reassure Ruby.

Weiss hummed as she tidied her desk. Ruby was retaking exam with Professor Port—Weiss had convinced him to allow it—so she was waiting in their dorm for her return. Blake had dragged Yang to study in the library, so ideally she and Ruby would have a little privacy.

Not for anything uncouth! Not that Weiss would object, but she thought that if Ruby was feeling shy it’d be best for Weiss to ask her out in private. Weiss was so caught up in her reverie that she jumped when there was a knock at the window, and again when she saw Penny pressed against the window panes.

Against her better judgement, Weiss unlocked the window to let her in. Before Weiss could get a word out, Penny thrust a clipboard at her. A quick glance showed that if was the same questions from before, so she hastily wrote her answers down before pushing Penny towards the window.

Thankfully, Penny took the hint and left. Weiss shut the window and sat on her bed, waiting for Ruby to come back

***

**Table 2.** Survey responses from W.S. after exposure to written courtship samples from both suitors. Survey describes her relation type and willingness to enter a relationship with suitor J.A. or R.R.

**Suitor**

| 

**Relation Type**

| 

**Willingness**

**(% probability)**  
  
---|---|---  
  
**J.A.**

| 

Hostile

| 

-0  
  
**R.R**

| 

Receptive

| 

80  
  
***

Ruby walked out of Professor Port’s room drained. While that exam was difficult the first time, Port only let her retake it because her made the new one more difficult. She had other things on her mind though.

Penny offered to take the brunt of Weiss’ ire and tell her about the letter, but Ruby wanted to do it herself—partially because she felt responsible, and partially because she didn’t want to hurt Weiss’ feelings.

Before long, Ruby was outside their dorm room. She took a deep breath before entering. Upon entry, she saw Weiss scramble to stand up from sitting on her bunk. She seemed to hesitate between staying there or walking towards Ruby—the latter won out.

“Ruby, I would like to discuss—”

“WeissIgottatellyousomething!” Ruby blurted, “I really like you and stuff! Like, “like like” you.”

Weiss was briefly taken aback before gently smiling, “I gathered as much from your letter, I al—”

“I didn’t write that letter!”

Weiss froze, staring at Ruby’s flustered expression. After a moment, Weiss changed her expression into something unreadable, though Ruby could feel her eyes pierce through her, “Explain.”

“I led with that first part ‘cuz I wanna make sure you know that I like you! Because I do!” Ruby said, “But also that letter you got was from Penny because she was….uh. Studying love letters? I’m honestly not sure what she was doing.”

Weiss’ mask seemed to slowly thaw.

“So I’m sorry that she lied to you, but I guess it’s not really a lie because I do like you?” Ruby continued, “Like a lot. Which I already said so I should probably stop talking now.”

Weiss’ was unable to hold back her smile, “I...I’m not exactly pleased about receiving a counterfeit love letter. However, I suppose I can accept that if you’ll accompany me to Vale this weekend.”

Ruby nodded enthusiastically.

“I’d also enjoy an authentic letter to replace Penny’s”

Ruby froze and then nodded slowly.

“Excellent. To clarify Ruby, would you like to be my girlfriend?” Weiss was unable to stop grinning at that last word.

Ruby resumed her frantic nodding.

“...Ruby, you can speak now.”

“YES! I want to be your girlfriend! And go on dates! And also hug!” Ruby said, still nodding frantically.

Weiss gently cupped Ruby’s cheeks to stop her nodding, “All of those sound wonderful, Ruby.”

Ruby’s face tingled where Weiss’ hands touched. This was nice, she could probably just stay like this forev—oh.

Weiss moved her hands to wrap her arms around Ruby, “I think you said something about hugs?”

Ruby grinned and wrapped her arms around Weiss, “We can try advanced hugging—cuddling!”

They both laughed. They kept their arms wrapped around each other as they tried to step in time towards Weiss’ bunk.

At the last step, one of them tripped and they fell, giggling, onto the bed.

  
  



	2. Penny's Discussion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The discussion section of Penny's final report. The "report" portion of this work was written before the story—literally opposite of how science works, but that's okay this is fiction—and because of that, the discussion's organization doesn't match the organization of the results section. 
> 
> The original table order was different, but I change it so the tables followed the story flow better. 
> 
> Also, this is literally just the discussion section—I didn't attached a narrative scene or anything, so if you're expecting a continuation of the previous chapter... Uh, sorry?

Written courtship was expected to affect the potential for a suitor to enter a romantic partnership with the recipient, furthermore, it was predicted that written courtship would positively affect a suitor the recipient was previously receptive towards, and negatively affect a suitor who the recipient was non-receptive towards. The data collected from both the surveys and behavioral observation periods support the previous prediction. 

Suitor J.A. began the experiment in poor standing with the subject, W.S, and remained in poor standing with her afterwards. This suggests that the written courtship technique was ineffective towards improving J.A.’s relation type. The subject’s self-described favorability of the suitor also decreased by 10%—though the data is hard to interpret, as the subject responded with a negative value. Additionally, over the initial five day observational period, 87% of his interactions with the subject were negative. In the later observational period, the incidence of negative interactions increased to 95%. This may imply increased negative interaction, however the relative change in negative behavior was only 0.09%.

While the above suggests that the written courtship ritual produced a negative response from W.S., it should be noted that when presented with the sample addressed from J.A., the subject destroyed it on sight without reading it; W.S. proceeded to violently express her rejection of said sample, which may have affected empirical results. Additionally, although the second observation suggests an increase in negative interaction, it should be noted that the subject reduced her interactions with J.A. after exposure the the sample. This suggests that the numerical data may be insignificant due to a small sample size, however, her avoidance of suitor J.A. suggests a decrease in favorability.

Suitor R.R. began the experiment with a “neutral” relation type, which increased to “receptive” over the course of the experiment. This supports the prediction that the written courtship technique has a positive effect on favorability for suitors a recipient is already receptive towards. The subject’s self-described favorability of the suitor also increased from 20% to 80%, a relative change of 300%. This further supports the experiment’s predictions. Finally, during the observational periods, the subject’s negative interactions with R.R decreased from 34% to 17%, a relative change of -100%. Furthermore, prior to the end of observation, the subject, W.S., proposed the formation of a romantic partnership with R.R—supporting the prediction that written courtship positvely affects the favorability of a suitor.

It should be noted, however, that while W.S. did not read the sample from J.A., the sample from R.R. was kept and read. Since W.S. had unequal exposure to each sample, the data collected from after the exposure may be invalid. Additionally , certain behaviours observed were not predicted: sample destruction, physical altercations, and suitor avoidance. As such, they were not accounted for during the development of this experiment’s methods.

Overall, the experiment supports that elements of the prediction made, however, due to unaccounted variables, the results of this experiment may be invalid. Further research with modified methods—accounting for the unforeseen behaviors above and altering observation parameters from time to number of interactions, for example—is required before a conclusion can be drawn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If that read was a little dry... well, I'm not sure what you expected?? 
> 
> I'm pretty sure I switched up terminology a bunch through the report, but this isn't an actually academic submission so I can't be bothered to edit for consistency LOL.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote the report first, and then wrote the story around it L O L
> 
> Please do not judge me on my one hour BS lab report. There's also a discussion section, but it seemed irrelevant to the story so I won't post unless someone is curious enough to request it.


End file.
